Lionheart
by resonatethroughtime
Summary: Belle, who is on her way to seek adventure, meets the poor Spinner Rumpelstiltskin and his son Bealfire. When Rumpelstiltskin turns into the Dark One, she decides to stay.
1. Seeking Adventure

**Notes at the end!**

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**LIONHEART**

**Chapter 1  
**_**Prologue  
Seeking Adventure**_

Belle always considered herself to be brave. Not in the sword fighting way (and God forbid that she would ever kill someone), but she always stood up for what she wanted. And what she wanted was to decide her own fate, to write her own story.  
When she was younger, she often sneaked out of the castle, just to prove that she wouldn't necessarily listen to everyone, and let them tell her what to do. Then, when she got older, she stood up for herself, telling everyone what it was that _she _wanted. And in that context, Belle considered herself to be brave.  
It was one of the reasons why she ran away from the castle and why she was now on this carriage, among all the men giving her the funny looks for reading a book. She loved her father, there was absolutely no question about that, after all, he was her father. But she was sick with everyone deciding for her what to do.  
The Ogre wars had been around for a while when her father decided that she was going to be engaged to Gaston, a nobleman from the neighbors' country. According to her father the connection of Belle and Gaston would be a hopeful sign for the townspeople, seeing a marriage among war. Belle found that to be ridiculous.  
She ran away before they even got the chance to engage her.

"What's that?" she suddenly heard a voice behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know it was the guy, who always threw her the most disgusting and derogatory looks. Belle didn't let that interfere her in any kind, but she liked him the less of her travelling group.

She met them in a bar, not long ago. They've been organizing troops for the Ogre wars. Belle had heard a rumor in the castle that mostly children were involved in that war, them being small and nimbly and therefore could fight against the Ogres more easily than grown men. Belle found that thought disgusting but whenever she asked about that, no one confirmed nor denied it.  
When she saw the group in the bar, she knew that that was her chance for an adventure.  
She always wanted to have an adventure, not always reading about them in her books, no matter how much she loved them. And there was her chance. And that's how she ended up on the carriage, on her way to the Ogre wars, no idea where exactly she would end up or what she would do. But that was the exact reason she read the abandoned Ogre Book she had found at a place they had stopped for a while.

"Ehh…a book?"  
She turned around looking her travelling companion into the eyes. "I trust you've seen one before?"  
"You expect to defeat all those Ogres…with a book? "  
"Maybe she means to bore them to death!" she heard one of them in the front of the carriage say.  
How brainless could people be? But she would give them a chance.  
"It could tell us what to do on how to defeat the Ogres!"  
Before she could do anything, her travelling companion had grabbed the book from her.  
"This is just a funny wordmix!"  
"It's called another language!" Belle answered while taking the book back from him. "And one that I know how to translate!"  
Looking back to the book, something caught her eye that she didn't see before. She made a surprised sound, without actually intending to do so, but her travelling companion had heard it.  
"What?"  
"Oh, I thought it was just a funny wordmix!"  
"We're here to protect the land girl and if that book tells us what to do you shall share it with us!"  
It's not that Belle wanted to keep her discovery a secret, but they had laughed at her for using a book to gather information and she felt as if they deserved a lesson.  
"It says that if the Ogres drink from the water of the Ibunary Lake, their movements become slower, making it easier to defeat them!"  
"The Ibunary lake you say?"  
"Yes!"  
It wasn't even a good lie and Belle was certain that they would laugh at her again, demanding her to tell the truth. But they bought it and Belle found herself wondering again how brainless people could be.

"You heard her. We're going to the lake"  
And before she could do anything, grab anything or say anything, he kicked her off the carriage.  
Belle landed on the hard stony ground before she understood what had happened, seeing the carriage getting further away from her every second.  
"Wait!"  
She was there to help fight against the Ogres, she wanted to do something, wanted her adventure, wanted to be brave.  
"Don't forget your book!" her, now ex travelling companion called and threw the book into her direction.  
When Belle got up, book in her hand, she considered running after them for a second, but then quickly dismissed it. They would just make fun of her again, probably kick her off at some other point and anyway…they were on their way to the Ibunary lake.

Belle smiled.

"Enjoy the lake!" she called after the men, then looking back to her book.

"Ogres can only be defeated through magic!" she read aloud to herself. Now that was a step further than anyone ever got, but the question was where to get magic from. Belle certainly had no magic within her, nor did she know anyone with magical abilities. But it was something she could work with. At least.

"Are you ok Miss?"  
Belle looked up; the sudden voice from someone out of nowhere gave her a quick fright. It was a man, older than her, but not too old, with brown hair, dressed in worn clothes. He was leaning onto a stick and looking at her with brown eyes.

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**Thank you very much for reading the first chapter of my very first every written Fanfiction. I was very unsure if I should really post this (especially because english is not my native language), but in the end, I decided to finally just do it. Until now I have 8 chapters planned. I'm excited :p  
Thak you so much for whatisthisautumnsorcery on tumblr for beta reading this.  
Reviews are appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Appart from the Ibunary Lake. But I don't really know if that counts. Or if it will make an appearance again ;)  
The characters and everything else you recognize belongs to abc.**


	2. The Dagger

**Notes at the end**

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**Chapter Two  
****_The Dagger_**

She was beautiful, that was the first thing he noticed about her.  
Rumpelstiltskin was just on his way outside to prepare the wool when he had seen the woman, laying on the ground, the carriage she had been on getting further and further away. Why had she been on a carriage full of men, and why was she also wearing men's clothing? It confused him. He never saw women in anything other than dresses usually

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you!" she said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He nodded, passed her a tiny smile and then turned around to get back to the wool.

He and his son Baelfire were eagerly preparing the wool to fulfill their plan of getting the dagger of the Dark One, to control him and end the Ogre wars.  
Those actions came out of desperation. His son was all that Rumpelstiltskin had left and if he didn't do something, and soon, his son would be ripped away from him, forced to fight in the Ogre wars with no guarantee of returning

Rumpelstilskin wasn't brave. As a matter of fact, he was known as the town coward and he even described himself as one. Because he was a coward, he had lost his wife. Because he was a coward, he and his son lived in poverty. And because he was a coward, they hadn't made it out of town last night, when trying to escape the Ogre wars.

But the possibility of losing his son made him try and try again. If he lost him, he would die anyway…

"Excuse me, but could you possibly tell me where I am?" he heard the woman ask and when he turned back around, he was once again overwhelmed by how beautiful she was.

He pointed to the red sky on the horizon. "You're not far away from the Ogre wars," he answered politely, "maybe it would be better to go in the opposite direction, away from the fighting."He turned again to return to his house.

She followed him.  
"The Ogre wars? That's exactly where I was headed!"

He stopped. Why would she, a woman, be on her way to the Ogre wars?

She must have seen his confusion, because she immediately explained herself, how she was looking for an adventure, met the people she was on a carriage with only a short time ago, and had decided this was her chance to have an adventure.

"You cannot fight against the Ogres!" he said, once she had finished her tale, wondering where this bravery to speak up to someone had suddenly come from.

He knew that he couldn't let her go and face certain death. No one who went and fought against the Ogres ever returned, apart from those who were sick or had been crippled.

She, however, smiled at him. "I never planned to actually go to the battlefield and fight against them without a plan. I want adventure, but I'm not mad!"

He didn't answer. Not because he was trying to be unfriendly or anything, but because he was too distracted, staring at her with a combination of astonishment and wonder.

Of course, she didn't know him, didn't know that he was the town coward, didn't know that if anyone would see her smile so openly at him, be so…_normal_ around him, people would judge her

"What is your name?" she asked, and once again smiled at him.

"Rumpelstiltskin," he said, without hesitation.

"I'm Belle" She kept smiling at him and after a while, he found himself smiling back at her.

"Papa?" he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind the little shed. His son, Baelfire, was approaching them, looking at Belle.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"_Bae_…" Rumpelstiltskin warned him.

"I'm Belle," she repeated and smiled again. It seemed like she was always smiling. Rumpelstiltskin noticed that he didn't mind. She was even more beautiful when she smiled.

"You're not from around here are you?" Bealfire asked her and Belle shook her head. "No, I'm from another kingdom. I'm on my way to fight against the Ogres."

"But you can't fight against the Ogres!" Baelfire echoed his father's words from before.

"Neither can you," Rumpelstiltskin mumbled. Baelfire didn't seem to have heard him but Rumpelstiltskin saw that Belle was looking at him, a curious expression on her face.

She held up her book. "In this book they tell you how Ogres can be defeated. I only need to find a wizard or someone who can do magic in order to defeat them. Do you know of any wizards or magical beings in this area?"

Of course they did. That's exactly what they were preparing for, to control magic by possessing the Dark One's dagger.

He exchanged a glance with his son.

"Tell her Papa. The more help we get, the better it'll be!"

He could see the excitement and questions on Belle's face, and for the first time she seemed to notice the wool in his hands.

"It will be better to discuss this inside," Rumpelstiltskin said, and led his boy and Belle into his house.

He didn't know why he was about to tell this woman everything. He had only just met her and now he was risking his plan of getting the dagger by telling her all he couldn't tell why but he just knew, _felt_, that Belle could be trusted. She was on her way to fight against the Ogres to stop them. She needed someone with magic. They might as well join forces.

And his son seemed to trust her as well, and that was enough for him.

"I met someone and he told me a fine tale!" And so he told her of how he and Baelfire had run away the previous night,of how they had met the beggar who had told them about the powers the dagger of the Dark One held. He had also told them his plan on how to get that dagger.

When Rumplestiltskin had finished, he couldn't tell what expression Belle's face held. But after a while, she straightened her body. "I want to come with you and help you, if you allow me to"

They agreed, of course they did, otherwise he wouldn't have told her the story. He had kept it simple, didn't mention that he was the town coward or that he had run from the Ogres when he was at the front all those years ago.  
She would be disgusted, and even though he barely knew her, he couldn't risk that. Not even his son knew the true story, that he had hobbled himself to be with him. He surely couldn't tell Belle that

But he couldn't deny that it did feel good to have someone on their side helping them.

And so they wandered off that evening to set the castle that held the Dagger on fire. Belle and Baelfire waited outside (even though she had protested that she wanted to come along, but he had said that it would be better if only one risked their life by actually going inside) and Rumpelstiltskin managed to get the Dagger. He didn't return to them straight away though, instead staying near the castle.

Rumpelstiltskin felt bad and knew that he probably should go back to them first, but this was something he had to do. If the plan wouldn't work, only he would be involved and that's how he wanted to keep it.

He held the dagger high above his head.

"Zoso! Zoso I summon thee!"

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I know, I know, I took a while to upload this chapter. My aim was to upload at least once a week and I'll try to stay true to this, but sometimes life gets in between.  
Thank you for the reviews to the last chapter. As I said, this is my first ever fanfiction, so every little bit means a lot :)

Thanks again to whatisthisautumnsorcery on Tumblr for beta reading this.


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